Nissan Skyline R30 at the Bathurst 1000

After watching the video above on Retro-Classics, Ben asked me about the connection between this DR30 Nissan Skyline and its role in Australian racing history.

The footage is from the Bathurst 1000, which has been Australia’s biggest racing event since the 1960s. It’s held on a street circuit in the rural town of Bathurst (during the rest of the year it’s a public road) and one of the traditions of what the Aussies call “The Great Race” has been a top ten qualifying shootout. The ten best qualifiers are invited for a one lap only opportunity to re-set their qualifying time, and over the years this very TV-friendly format has given us some hair-raising hot laps, as well as heartbreaking disappointments as leading contenders hang it out a little too far and crash their rides the day before the big race.

Also, you can’t can’t mention Bathurst and DR30 without also mentioning this clip, which we’ve posted before:

Back in the day, the regular drivers of the DR30 would always say that it had more power than handling, with which from the clip above, I think you can agree! And here is some DR30 footage in the All-Japan Group A championship.

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It also reminds me I still got somewhere two full movies of the late 80s events in Bathurst… Did watch them some five years ago because there were a couple of hachis in there. Need to re-watch them soon!